Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd. Makes New Investment in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 2,671 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Human Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Hollencrest Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 250.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Sempra by 225.6% in the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC raised its stake in Sempra by 180.4% during the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.54.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sempra news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at $1,139,236.65. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SRE opened at $71.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $83.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.60 billion, a PE ratio of 15.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78. Sempra has a 52 week low of $64.89 and a 52 week high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a $0.645 dividend. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.11%.

Sempra Company Profile

Sempra operates as an energy infrastructure company in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Sempra California, Sempra Texas Utilities, and Sempra Infrastructure. The Sempra California segment provides electric services; and natural gas services to San Diego County.